Eurasianet

One explanation for the continued dominance of Russian lies in Kazakhstan’s rural-urban divide.

Labor migrants are attempting to leave Russia as their jobs have been hit by sanctions. But they can’t cross the border into Azerbaijan, which has remained closed since the beginning of the pandemic.

A charismatic, handicapped singer has gone viral, triggering appearances with Russian superstars and a member of the ruling family.

The project is intended to partially bridge the language knowledge gap with Russian.

While clumsy on COVID-19, Turkmenistan is being more sure-footed, or consistent at least, on the Afghanistan front. Plus, unsustainable agriculture. Our weekly briefing.

The government signals it is taking COVID a bit more seriously, without admitting the virus is running rampant. And Ashgabat gets down to business with the Taliban. This and more in our weekly briefing.

With the Taliban at the border, the president heads in the other direction to oversee defense operations on the Caspian Sea. Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

That Central Asia's presidents seemed to enjoy themselves together was itself a breakthrough. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

Will Turkmenistan come to Kyrgyzstan’s rescue?

Vaccine hesitancy in Uzbekistan is high, bred by social media conspiracies that seem credible in a country without accountable authorities.

But Russians are more ambivalent about having a Tajik-born singer represent them at the song contest.

Our Kazakhstan correspondent describes the waiting, the bureaucracy, and the anticlimax of getting his Sputnik V jab in Almaty.

Although Turkmenistan is rarely mentioned as a prospective member of the Moscow-led EAEU trading bloc, that notion is quite obviously on the Kremlin’s mind. Our weekly briefing.

The number of flights is still highly limited for the time being, however.

Manizha Sangin emigrated to Russia with her family at age three, during the Tajik civil war.